false teachers

“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”

(Mat 24:24)

Introduction

In this week’s episode we are examining Shepherd Bushiri’s ministry. This might upset a lot of people, however, truth must be told. Some people may interpret this episode as an act of hatred against Mr Bushiri. I assure you that, such is not the case. We are called in the Bible to “prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1Th 5:21-22) It is therefore a good practice to test everything to determine what is good and what is evil. God have allowed us to have the Bible at our disposal so that we can use it as a standard of measurement to test various things touching the matters of our faith. We shall first look at what the bible says about false prophets and false teachers. We shall see how the Bible instructs us both in the Old and New Testaments with regards to treating the false prophets and teachers.

THERE SHALL ARISE FALSE PROPHETS

Many people have an unbiblical view of false prophets and as result they get deceived by them. Many Christians think that false prophets are people who will stand up audaciously and deny Christ in plain terms, on a public platform. They assume that false prophets will come and burn bible and kill Christians in the streets. The Lord Jesus gives us a different view of how false prophets will look like. Listen to what he says, “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders” and also, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” (Mat 7:15)

Jesus shows us that these men will come into the church as Christians. They will speak our language, they will pray like us, they will sing like us, they will shout the name of Jesus and they will perform miracles and do wonders. Yes, false prophets will amaze people.

IF IT WERE POSSIBLE, THEY SHALL DECEIVE THE VERY ELECT

The primary aim of the false preachers is to deceive the church. They pretend to be Christians and many of them do lying wonders, to gain the trust of the true Christians, particularly those who are weak and not well versed in the Holy Scriptures. They will surely deceive those who do not know and those who do not understand the Bible. Jesus says the false prophets come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravening wolves. This expression shows us clearly that false prophets came to benefit themselves and to destroy the church. These are antichrists, they deny the Father and the Son and go a step further to blaspheme the Holy Spirt of God.

Pat attention to the words of the Lord about the false prophets in the last days. He says, “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” (Mat 24:5)

Let us break that down so we can understand what is going on.For many shall come in my name

The phrase, “come in my name” means that they come as though Christ sent them. Whatever they would do they would pretend that Jesus Christ authorized them to do it. They have the audacity of pronouncing curses upon their critics in the name of Jesus. While Jesus teaches us to bless those who persecute us. They won’t fail to tell the church how God speaks to them and how they responded to God, in one on one, face to face type of situation. And we know that from biblical view it is a huge load of rubbish!

Saying, “I am Christ”

Make no mistake to think that these man will claim to be Jesus. Many won’t admit to be Jesus Christ in public view, however, they would pretend to be Him by competing and comparing themselves with Him. They will use terms which are not easy for the unskilled in listening to discern. The word “Christ” means the “anointed.” Instead of saying “Behold I am Christ” you hear them saying, “I am the anointed man of God.” Sometimes you hear them saying, “I have the anointing.” False prophets always consider themselves as anointed by God and whenever they are called out for heresy and blasphemy, you will hear them say, “Touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm.” This, of course, being a misapplication of biblical text.

THEIR PUNISHMENT WILL COME SWIFTLY (Matthew 7:21-23)

The Lord did not only warn us of the false prophets but He also showed us their end. Listen to what he says

They call Him Lord

“Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”(Mat 7:21)

False prophet call Jesus Lord. They claim to believe and they confess that He is Lord BUT they live rebelliously against His Lordship. While with their mouths are confessing that Jesus is Lord, their public and often private actions are evidence enough that they don’t believe what they confess about Jesus. They teach and believe that by simply calling Jesus Lord will grant you salvation, yet Jesus defies that notion by saying, “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.” What more can anyone say against that. Confession of Jesus Lordship does not get anyone to heaven. Jesus it is only those who do the will of the Father. I am not preaching work based salvation but I am saying that those who do God’s will are showing us that they are indeed saved. Claiming that you are a Christian or the child of God, does not make you one.

They did wonders in His name

“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?” (Mat 7:22)

Jesus continues to show us that these false prophets shall come to Him and try to persuade Him to let them in. They will give their list of wonderful things they did in the name of Jesus.

They prophesied

They cast out demons

They did many wonderful things

They shall bring this wonderful resume before the Lord. I mean, the works they count to have done are wonderful things and they did these in the name of Jesus Christ

He will deny them

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Mat 7:23)

The Lord Jesus is now telling us of the most devastating words that would come out of His mouth towards the false teachers and false prophets. He shall say to them, “I never knew you.” It is apparent that these people were never saved to begin with. Jesus says, I never knew you. He denies have any communion with them. They was no friendship with Jesus. There was not relationship of any kind. As far as the kingdom of God is concerned, these men are strangers, robbers and thieves. The Lord shall order them to depart from him.

WHY SHEPHERD BUSHIRI IS A FALSE PROPHET?

I will now play some excerpts from the videos of Shepherd Bushiri which were extracted from his YouTube channel. And then I will explain somethings about him based on what He said. (Refer to the Audio File of this post)